day 2...or is it 3?

Sure, you know it, the wife is out of town for...not quite 48 hours yet. She will be home in...just a little more than 48 hours. Not that I am counting or anything ;) You were probably wondering what this temporary bachelor is doing? Making stuff! Like I always do. Like, FRIJOLES! You suddenly realize when you have simmered the crock pot full of chipotle peppers and pinto beans that....you have a lot of food for one person. Then you imagine "I don't need to do anything to cook for a few days, just open the fridge, grab a tortilla, grab some frijoles and cervezas and :) " Alright, yesterday's highlight? Many of you know this already: I went down to an elderly care facility to get the orientation. Monday = the debut of, I kid you not: "MONDAYS WITH PENNY" at Longview! Longview has senior apartments, and assisted care, and Penny, as you may recall, was nominated by our vet as the friendliest dog she had ever met (REALLY!) and said she NEEDED to go out and play with people (not, ahem, other dogs...she hates 99.99999 percent of other dogs) (and squirrels). SO, I love Longview. My buddy Kerry, as you know, works there, and it is the sort of place that I wish I lived in....I put our names on the waiting list....40 years! Good thing we got on the list now... Anyway, driving down there? I was pulled over. IN BRIEF: (last time a police officer stopped me was 1991.) He caught me speeding. First he asks why I think he stopped me? I had no idea. I said nothing. Then he tells me I was doing 31 in a 30 zone. One mile over the limit. He tells me he is giving me a break, the ticket is for "disobeying a traffic signal" which is far cheaper and does not affect my auto insurance. The officer, um, seemed to think I might be grateful for this little break? The wife has an expression: "no good deed goes unpunished". Ironic, isn't it, getting a speeding ticket on my way to volunteer at the senior facility?

(new pottery by Gary Rith)

Pottery Pals: 3 Potters 3 Bloggers

OK, we are off the ground indeed! meesh, Lori and I have become a mighty trio of awesomeness, working together to have virtual shows and exhibitions...and as I said a couple days ago, show number one is our beer mugs exhibit!

filthy thoughts....

(cups and saucers by ME!)
It is a lifestyle choice:  I really love cups and saucers.  I am trying to show a progression here, of fancy little sets and where my thinking is going...

HA! In other news:  The wife goes out of town to see the aunt, and I clean the garage!  Please do not think of me as virtuous, I AM NOT.  The wife is, well, a little tender hearted about junk, and sorting junk. I can be ruthless.  Our garage gets messy all winter and finally needs a little shaping and organizing, right?  ****
The photo shows the before and after.  Our community is big on free signs out front of your place on the curb.  Very little of what I did Thursday ended up in the trash or recycling, but A LOT ended up on the curb with the free sign.  A guy showed up with a pickup just as I was finishing, and he and his little kids took the whole mess, BLESS HIM, he said they could play with it.  It is possible that I will be driving down the road Saturday and see all that crapola at his garage sale and I DO NOT CARE if he makes 25 bucks off that stuff or whatever.  Gone.  Nice and tidy.
Before and after picks below.  Believe me a)  it IS cleaner and very well organized and b) NO I did not paint my garage with stripes, the last owner did :)



**** I lay it on thick about the wife and junk, in jest.  She is a very clean and tidy person, but, well, has a harder time getting rid of things than me (like, with her gone, its like "when is somebody going to make the bed?  Who is going to sharpen my pencils???? OH, I guess it will have to be me for a change).  AND I will admit that much of the junk in the garage is either  my display for fairs or numerous scrounged bags of bubble wrap for shipping :)

the bachelor blues in haikus

The wife is leaving
Town for a few days to see
Relatives in Cinci.

I will watch FAST TIMES
AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, Jeff Spiccoli
Is a hero of mine.

The wife is wining
And dining, partying it up,
But I have my dog.

the big beer mug challenge!

Blogging Buddies Beer Mugs

Here are my two mugs, made special and for sale now at my etsy shoppe!
Me and my buddies Meesh and Lori have decided to work together as a GROUP of potters, a small gang of 3 called Pottery PALS!  This is our first ever virtual show! We have been friends a long time...although we have not met in person yet.  Lori lives in Atlanta and went to college right near me in upstate NY.  Meesh lives in North Carolina and her partner is an old friend of mine from New Hampshire, Jeff Brown, and she knew another old friend of mine JZ.  So, you know, all these little circles.  Well, we hang out around each other's blogs, share ideas every day, just generally dig each other.

SO, we all happen to be beer lovers, and lucky you, we have made our first show BEER MUGS!!!!

This is Meesh's rather AMAZING green carved leaf mug, for sale at her etsy gallery.


The falcon here is by Lori, hot damn it is gorgeous, available at her etsy shoppe.

the wife says "my own personal cat in the hat!"

Spike = CRAFTY!
I have important things to post later, but for now, check out my naughty cat helping the wife with a sewing project....

pigs at the trough....

(pottery by Gary Rith)
Before we get to those chocolate cookies,  lets talk pigs.  You know I have made the standing piggy banks pictured toward the back in that photo since 1989.  Then 10-12 years ago I added the small sitting bank, with belly button.  I also have made myself a couple of these piggy card holders.  People at fairs would try to buy it and, me being dense, would be like "but it is my card holder, no!".  Thinking "stupid customers, leave me alone!" which is REALLY what all potters think of you civilians, if you want the truth ;)
Ahem.  That was a joke.
Anyway, off at Jacci's store, people are apparently always trying to buy my card holder, and per usual I am like "stupid people, it is MINE!".  But, a potter and sculptor like me, it occurs to ME that I am the stupid one, can also make them and sell them, DUH!!!! So who has been stupid all along? I also made the wife a dog card holder (beagle!) and maybe I should make and sell some of those too....

Please don't look at the phone number there and call me.  I never answer the phone even if you are a relative.  I like emails, not phones, and new cards don't have the number at all...
well, i would pick up if the wife calls.  YES, I screen calls....or simply never pick up....OK....cookies!!!!

Yesterday on pinterest I see "oatmeal chocolate chip bars" and I am like ???!!!!! (sorry, can't find the original)

AND so I decide I am dying to make them....and they are so simple and good, and I made 3 changes, so I guess that makes it my recipe, almost?  Below you will see what I did, next to original, to make it no dairy, no egg = vegan.  let's just say they are AWESOME AND EASY too.

oatmeal choc chip bars

grease 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pyrex baking dish

needs:
1/2 cup butter (I used earthbalance margerine)
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/8 cup white sugar
1 egg (I used 2 oz. toffuti soy 'cream' cheese and 1/4 cup soy milk)
1/2 teas vanilla
1 teas baking powder
1 cup rolled or quick oats (I used quick oats--I figure it would hold together more easily)

preheat oven to 375

-cream margerine, sugars, egg or soy and vanilla in a bowl
-second bowl, combine flour, baking powder and oats (original did not do this, but I did)
-add the flour mix to the margerine bowl, stir until nicely mixed, add choc chips
-pour the crumbly mixture into greased pan, press into an evenly spread pan, bake 18-22 minutes--until it looks like it is just getting golden brown
-let dish cool for say 30 minutes, then cut into bars, like 16 of them, while it is still a little warm and soft, then let bars cool on wire rack, YUM!  I finished these and cut them just when the wife came home...I was a BIG STAR and you could be too!

the usual disaster in the making...

We started tomato seeds a few weeks ago.  Wait.  The wife did.  My basil is now dead.  But we have the wife's tomato plants, and as I said, Kerry gave us some tomato plants.  Today is (roughly) the planting moon.  It is also, predictably, amazingly cold and rainy, likely to stay that way for days....but, hey, I am a hero! I dug and created raised beds for the wife and filled them with compost.  Our tomato plants will die a comfortable death this summer.....*
This frog was like
"forget it guys, go inside and make those chocolate cookies you were talking about" **


*In 20 summers together me and the wife have planted tomato plants every year.  ONE YEAR we even got tomatoes. Put the blame on me. I wish I could garden, but I CANNOT.  Luckily I am good in bed and charming as hell....***
**cookies posted Tuesday, yaaaaay! I am so good at making cookies!
*** I mean, in bed?  I don't snore, steal the covers, drool.....I am better behaved than the beagle and the oversized cat!

on Monday morning my head feels like it is stuffed with:

I swear its true, Monday is something to be reckoned with isn't it?  Its just plain, well, MONDAY.
My head feels like it is stuffed with cotton, literally, except I am imagining a pretty green olive with a red pimento.
Do me a favor, go to comments and fill in this sentence!
on Monday morning my head feels like it is stuffed with:

(new cups and saucers by Gary Rith)

in which we go to a beautiful wedding and you see me in a tie a second day in a row....

Our buddies Kyle and Anna got married Saturday! Also happen to be the adult kids of my best pals StevO and Judy. The wedding was notable for many reasons, the first being the couple has been dating since ...they were 12. Now they are in their mid-20s! They have been totally close and together the whole time, now married. Another notable fact to appreciate: the weather Friday and early saturday was unbelieveably cold and horrible. The weather now on Sunday, again horrible, cold and rainy. Yesterday afternoon, as the bride came down the path, the sun came out and it got warm and stayed that way until sunset :) You would say God was smiling on this couple indeed....

Impossibly beautiful spot for reception, on a pond just north of our house.

The wedding itself was at Cornell Plantations, in this wonderful pavilion in the woods....



The exact moment the sun came out and stayed out!

I was crying.  Everybody was crying.  The wedding was super simple, they read vows to each other.  That was a heartfelt lesson for us all! Young people teaching us so much about love....

Throughout, Derek (future brother-in-law) and Allen, brother of the groom, played guitar beautifully.


Us.  I got married in this tie.  I had my umbrella, thus guarenteeing there would be no rain ;) The wife will complain that I post too many pictures of US, but what can I say?  We found a four leaf clover at the wedding and gave it to the couple...


Hope I am not blowing any surprises here, day after the wedding, but I gave one of my piggy banks with a wee honeymoon fund contribution in it....(I am always bringing it back to pottery, am I not? :)

25 years ago...and hanging out with (people who know) famous people

I went to Bennington College, Peter Dinklage did too, more on him below. He started just after I graduated, which was 25 years ago today! 25 years ago I graduated from college, how did that happen????
Here is a picture of me spring of 1987 with my bunny...yes, I had a bunny when I was in college....
also, me and my buddy Alex on graduation day, June 1987---holy cats, 25 years....Alex was my friend from the first moment in college, lived next door in a suite of freshman boys.  Nearly all of us who lived in that suite in 1983 are still good friends. Below me and Alex is part of my senior show.


OK, the point about famous people?  My buddy in the pics below, Kerry, is hanging out with me Thursday.  She is on her way to Bennington College's graduation because a) her godson who is also her cousin graduates today and is the student speaker and b) he, his mother, and my pal Kerry are all friends with...Peter Dinklage! From the same town and all that.  Last night, I swear I am not making this up, Kerry is at the college partying with Peter Dinklage..... suddenly it seems like a small world, eh?
anyway, here is us Thursday, with her dogs...she gave me a bunch of tomato plants, yessssss....
and it is sorta obvious what somebody said about me yesterday, referring to my 21 year old self versus now:  I lost the baby fat! I guess I did....I still have all that hair, just shorter now...and can't read telephone books or street signs anymore, but glasses suit me....

Penny = LOOOOoooove

The vet comes over this morning for Penny's yearly visit.  Some of you remember that we had 3 dogs and 2 cats for MANY years, and since we live here in Ithaca, with the Cornell vet school a couple miles up the street, there are hundreds of vetinarians around.  Maybe more than hundreds, in every specialty, and our vet's specialty is traveling to people's houses.  We just have one cat and dog now, but it sure is easy having the vet come here (esp. well, with a pet's last day, you know?)
Penny is seven now, healthy, youthful, absolutely sweet and loveable, and Spike too. They welcome the vet with open arms....Penny is SO friendly that the vet insisted that she become a companion dog.  PENNY LOVES people, as you know, and can see here, and she and I would be trained to go to homes of the elderly or handicapped for, well, beagle therapy, you know? I contacted them right away and if all goes well, we begin training this fall....

I swear its true:

I SWEAR its true:  I saw an elderly couple in front of a big old pinkish house (Ithaca, Cayuga St, approx. across from Kinneys) helping each other into the house...80+, and it was so sweet, like UP-the house, the couple etc, and I was like "THAT is what I want to be when I grow up".

And speaking of cute couples, Saturday we go to a wedding:  the couple has been dating 13+ years...since they were 12 years old!!!!

OK, this bowl?  Last week I have 2 AWESOME visitors to the studio.  I am showing off, I have a big chunk of clay, I make a huge bowl....and later?  Because one of the visitors has a beagle too? I make a beagle on the rim...eating the bowl....


(new pottery by Gary Rith)